The Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) court of Gurugram penalised a real estate promoter Vatika Limited for violating the builder buyer agreement provisions laid under Section 13 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act of 2016. The landmark order of the RERA court passed by SK Arora has come as a big relief for the five complainants.
“The Authority establishes the violation of Section 13 of the Act 2016 on the part of Vatika Limited and hereby imposes a penalty under Section 61 of Rs 1,00,000/- in each complaint and further directs the promoter to execute the registered buyer’s agreement as per the model agreement provided in the Real Estate Regulation and Development Rules 2017 within 30 days from the order failing which the Authority shall be bound to invoke penal action under Section 63,” said the order.
Section 13 states that a promoter shall not accept a sum more than 10 per cent of the total cost of an apartment, plot, or building as the case may be an advance payment or an application fee from a person without first entering into a written agreement for sale with such person and register the said agreement for sale.
“Whereas, in the instant matter the respondent (Vatika Limited) has taken 100 per cent of the consideration without executing the BBA,” the order said.
The court also has imposed a penalty of Rs 25000/- on each complainant to be paid within 30 days from the date of this order under Section 63 of the Act 2016 for non-complying with the directions of the Authority vide its order dated 23.02.2024.
All the five complainants cum allottees had approached the RERA Court in October 2022 seeking justice after they failed to get any desired relief from Vatika Limited.
The complainants had booked commercial units in the Vatika India Next project in 2018 and paid full consideration to the promoter without executing the builder-buyer agreement (BBA).
A year later, Vatika transferred their units without their consent to a different project Vatika One at Sector 16, Gurugram and also reduced the unit sizes to 500 sqft from the original size of 1000 sqft.
In a big relief to complainants, the RERA court has also directed Vatika Limited to pay interest for every month of delay from the due date of possession till a valid offer of possession at the prescribed rate.
